-={Aurora Australis Charter }=- UPDATED 29/03/08

Aurora Australis is a casual family friendly kinship, a loose collection of like-minded and mature individuals who play this game to have fun. We are generally not power-gamers, nor are we role-players, but these game-play aspects are not discouraged as long as the rules of the kinship are upheld.

We have no level requirements, payments, tithes or taxes. We do however run an application and sponsor based recruiting system, to ensure we are recruiting mature, friendly and like minded people to join the Aurora Australis community.

Since I used the ''R'' word, let it be known that we hate rules, but as the size of the kinship grows we need a consistent charter to make sure that 'all' Kinfolk know what we believe in, and to make their own judgements as to whether they'd fit into this type of casual, family friendly kinship.

Fun is at the forefront of what we do. We'll do new quests, low-xp quests, low loot quests, raids, heck we’ll do anything as long as it's fun.

Respecting other Kinfolk is paramount within AA. Causing grief, abuse, swearing at people whether they be in our kin, in your fellow or anywhere else in the game, racist or sexist comments and any other anti-social and generally moronic behaviour will not be tolerated and immediate expulsion can result. Leadership would rather have a small Kin of great players than a large Kinship with some aforementioned morons.

Recruitment: During each recruitment month recruits will have at least two weeks to get to know the members of the kinship, or at most 4 weeks depending on when they signup. Fellowshipping, Raiding, and attending Kinship events are great ways to meet other players and gradually gain your sponsors, don't forget to remind the members you fellow with that you're a recruit. Members of the kinship are encouraged to provide written support (Sponsorship) for recruits in their application on the forums. Recruits need to gain at least four sponsors within the recruitment month to become a fully fledged member. The Kin gathering and Official Announcement Ceremonies will occur in game on the 1st of every month, a party is held at the kinhouse to welcome our newest full members.

(Temporarily Down please register here - Please use https://auroraaustralis.forumotion.com with a dedicated lotro character as your forum name)
You must register on www.auroraaustraliskinship.info and submit an application there. Included in your forum registration is a mandatory character sheet, if you don't fill this out, you won't be granted access. This portal is our main kinship communication tool. It is a requirement that if you are a member, you’ll check the forums to keep yourself involved. Posting isn't a requirement, but logging in to see what's happening is. Announcements, events, rosters, advice, trades, raids and all that will be posted here.

Characters not played for 6 weeks will be removed from the kin list in game, in a effort to keep the kin list clean. If you're going on a long holiday or something similar contact an officer so we don't accidentally remove you. If you are removed in error, please contact a member of leadership to correct the problem.

Warnings regarding behaviour: To merit a warning, you will have to do something that’s disruptive to the kin (Some examples are below), although some behaviour are grounds for immediate expulsion. We are generally pretty relaxed and encompass many differing play-styles and ages. However if you do behave in a way that is not in keeping with the core values of the Kinship you'll receive a warning from an officer. If you persist you will be removed from the kinship by any officer who's currently online. So please, try to behave and if you get a warning bite your lip, take a five minute break from the game and come back fresh. If you do get a warning it won’t be a black cross against your name for ever, after a couple of months previous warnings will be removed and you will be back to a clean slate.

Generally most people know when they're being moronic, it's mainly common sense - do unto others and all that. To clarify confusion on a few grey areas....
Do not abuse another player in our kin, another kin, your fellowship or anywhere else in the game. This includes node stealing, losing your temper in a fellowship/raid, or being down right rude in general. Do not have an argument in kinship chat, flame people in the forums or generally be negative. If you need to have a dispute with someone in the kinship please lodge a complaint, do it in private tells or pm them in the forums, or if you can’t resolve the issue yourself pm an officer in the forums.

Fellowship etiquette: Kicking party members (including non-kin-fellows) without warning or kicking people from a group for balance reasons is not a nice thing to do, and a big no-no for the kinship. You should be able to manage the team BEFORE inviting people by asking the group what is required, and if you make a mistake do like world-cup football players should do - deal with it and play on. Be patient, not everyone can play at the same connection speed you do. Sometimes accidents happen and your fellowship might wipe. Handle yourself maturely, fairly and don't berate people who make mistakes. In the end we are all still learning. You can discuss ways to improve the next time, or opt out of a future fellowship. Be respectful, don't be selfish. If you are questing with a fellowship be open to helping others achieve quests, even if you have to sometimes go out of your way or have already completed it. This will become crucial in raiding parties.

Racist and sexist comments: We believe everyone in the kin has a right to have fun and play in peace. Terms like Chinese farmer, or the common phrase "that’s gay" when referring to something bad are both examples of racist/sexist comments. Most of the time people don't even realize what they say, or that its racist/offensive. We are a family friendly kinship so please be mindful of the people around you and think before you speak (type)

While mild language is acceptable, please don't go overboard, it is a family friendly kin after all. There is however two exceptions to this, don't swear at someone, and don't try and bypass the language filter by spacing out words. If people switch their language filter on its because they don't want to see it, you bypassing their filters is a big no-no.

Trading and sharing: The ideals of the kinship are to be a caring and sharing society. Most people just give stuff away that they don't need, so while people are giving away stuff please be respectful of their generosity. Make sure you say please, and thank-you, and only ask for items you can use, and use on your main character. If no mains need the item and your alt does, then ask for the item and inform them its for your alt. In give-aways mains come before alts. Try and keep things fair, if you get items for free make sure your giving away as much as your receiving as soon as you have something to give. If you are crafting items for people, or obtaining items from crafters pay for their costs to make the items, no more, no less, preferably you can do this by supplying the materials required to make the item. Due to limited bank space most crafters don't carry all required materials. Our GM crafters are pretty heavily booked, So if you need a low level item made try to get it from a non gm crafter first.

If you receive something you don't need from a kinship give-away, offer it back to the kin 'don't just sell it'. This can be resources, weapons, armour, player crafted gear, etc. Our GM crafters have put in long hours to obtain the GM title, if they give you something for free, and you realise you don't need it, ask the GM crafter if he/she want it back before you offer it to the kin.

NEVER SELL/RESELL THINGS GIVEN TO YOU FREE FROM CRAFTERS OR KINCHAT
(eg, a GM crafter is giving away high end armour for free, a kin member puts their hand up and takes the armour. Days later the GM crafter sees their armour up on the Open AH that they gave to that kin member. The right thing for the kin member to do was speak to the GM crafter about returning the gear or listing it up on the kinship AH at listing price.)

Kinship Auction House: The Kin Auction House is a place for members to list items for non or very little profit, a way to share around resources to all members and build the AA community as a whole. Winning items off the Kin AH and then relisting them on the open AH for profit is grounds for immediate expulsion, to do this is just as bad as stealing from your Kinmates and won't be tolerated. We aren't here to use each other, so please do the right thing and respect your Kinmates. As a general rule if you are looking to make a huge profit margin sell your items on the open AH, not the Kin AH.

Above the law: The above applies to every member and officer of the Kinship. Its not one rule for some, and another rule for others. This basic etiquette will be enforced by all officers, If you feel a member's behaviour is out of line (even an Officer's) feel free to let a member of leadership or another officer know in private.

Ventrilo is a voice communication system used to enhance the gaming experience in LOTRO, AA has a server setup for it's members as it's a great way to get to know your Kinmates. While Ventrilo is not compulsory, it is highly recommended especially for higher level instances and raids. Even if you don’t have a microphone, just being able to listen to instructions could save a 4 hour trek into a instance from ending in a wipe. It makes that much difference, some players will not even fellowship into instances with people unable to hear voice instructions, there simply isn't enough time to type sometimes. The Ventrilo information is stickied inside the website, grab it after your application has been approved.

Leaving the kinship: If by chance you find that the kinship isn't what you wanted or expected, please leave before applying to another kin. To say goodbye send a tell to the people you want to inform, or leave a post in the farewell section of the forums if you'd like, but please leave without making a scene. This causes less disruption in the forums and in game for people who are happily having fun, playing the game they love, with people they love even more. In addition, it's policy that if your main character leaves the kinship, all of your alts must leave as well.

Signed, the Aurora Australis Kinship.

Thank you for reading our charter. If you are still interested in joining us please complete a recruitment application telling us a little about yourself. Then we can get on with approving it and getting you into the kinship. Feel free to recommend us to your friends if you enjoy your stay.